NEW YORK – ABC, CBS and NBC haven’t sent their top news anchors to the Middle East to cover Israel’s conflict with Hamas. That stands in contrast to 2006, when each network sent their biggest names overseas to cover Israel’s war with Hezbollah.

The networks said their decisions weren’t economic, despite tough budget times that have caused them to retrench in overseas coverage.

Rather, they cited a busy news period and restrictions placed by Israel on access to the fighting. CNN sent Anderson Cooper to Israel, but he returned Wednesday partly because of those restrictions.

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